Small earthquake rattles tiny Jay

Staff report

Thursday

Mar 7, 2019 at 4:14 PMMar 7, 2019 at 4:14 PM

JAY — An earthquake hit the small Santa Rosa County community of Jay on Wednesday.

Some residents in the were reported to have felt the earthquake, which occurred about 10:45 p.m. near Bray Mill Creek. The quake registered 2.6 on the Richter Scale, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The Jay Fault is buried deep underground in the area where the earthquake occurred, according to Sarah Shellabarger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“There have been reports of earthquakes in this area (Pensacola, Southern Alabama) in historical literature, but prior to the development of modern earthquake detection methods, it was impossible to tell exactly where the epicenter of an earthquake was,” Shellabarger said in an email response to questions about the tremor.

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